Team Maquinista from Tokyo Tech's Society for the Study of Robotics — one of the Institute's official student clubs — has won the Mabuchi Motor Co., Ltd. Special Award for their unique robot design at the 2024 NHK Student Robot Contest, held on June 9. This year's contest, joined by 18 teams, was cosponsored by NHK and NHK Enterprises, Inc.
Tokyo Tech representatives at 2024 NHK Student Robot Contest
The NHK Student Robot Contest was first held in 1991 and has functioned as the national qualification round for the ABU Asia-Pacific Robot Contest since 2002.
Each year, the theme of the Asia-Pacific contest changes depending on the host nation. The theme for the 2024 contest, which will be held in Ha Long, Vietnam in August, is "Harvest Day." The name reflects the planting and harvesting of rice in the iconic terraced paddies of Vietnam.
This year, participating teams must use two robots to conduct tasks in a field divided into three areas. In Area 1, they first perform a task called "plant," in which they retrieve seedling vases placed on a rack, and then carry and place them in a predetermined position in the Planting Zone. In Area 2 during the "harvest" task, the teams must pick up different colored balls from the Harvesting Zone and throw them into Area 3. In Area 3, the teams attempt to collect their team balls and place them in vertical silos in the Silo Zone. Teams earn points from each of these tasks, and the team with the most points after three minutes wins the match. However, if a team fills three of the five silos with at least two of their balls and with their team ball at the top of each silo, they immediately achieve gold, or mua vang in Vietnamese, and win the game.
To make things more challenging, teams had to build both of their robots according to strict size, weight, and safety regulations, and Area 3 could only be accessed by the second robot, which had to be fully automated.
Kusaka, Team Maquinista's first robot
Fushimi, Team Maquinista's second robot
Team Maquinista's first qualifying match was against the team that finished second in this year's NHK Student Robot Contest. Although robots Kusaka and Fushimi both worked well, Team Maquinista lost the match. The team won their second qualifier despite some issues with the movement of one of their robots. The result of the qualifying round was one win and one loss, which did not secure a place in the final round for the Tokyo Tech team.
In recent years, with the development of electronic control technology, many teams in this contest have simplified their mechanism and mounted multiple actuators on their robot. Team Maquinista's Kusaka, however, was equipped with multiple cam mechanisms to generate complex movements and enable fine motion that is difficult to achieve with electronic control. The team was also able to decrease the number of actuators to reduce the weight of their robot.
None of the other teams opted for this kind of solution, and Team Maquinista's efforts earned them the Mabuchi Motor Co., Ltd. Special Award for "combining the best of both control and machinery without relying entirely on electronic control."
Winners of Special Award at 2024 NHK Student Robot Contest
Special Award trophy
Comments from participants
Chief Maquinista Ryo Horie
4th year, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Looking back over the past year, I feel it has been a series of continuous challenges for both the team and me individually. On the one hand, I am disappointed that our efforts did not lead to victory in the competition. On the other hand, I am very happy that we won the Special Award. The process throughout the year has not been in vain, and I am sure that our efforts will benefit the maquinistas who come after us. Working with fellow students to solve a problem the team was facing, and then putting it into practice, has been a rich experience that I can use in my future research life. I will continue to work on my research with the same attitude.
This year's maquinistas were able to participate in this contest thanks to all the supporters who organized practice spaces for us, and who helped us in many other ways. A warm thank-you to all of you. I am certain that Team Maquinista will continue to grow, and we look forward to your continued support in the future.
Contest Team Leader Ayato Saito
3rd year, Department of Mechanical Engineering
As a team, we are disappointed that we did not make it through the qualifying rounds, which was our goal. However, we are pleased that both of our machines performed well in the contest, which was the result of our efforts to develop these robots over the past year.
Personally, I am very pleased that the mechanism I designed and built was recognized with the Special Award, which is a great honor for an engineer. In developing the robot, I was able to make use of what I have learned in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Tokyo Tech. I would like to apply the knowledge gained during the robot creation process to my research and other activities.
There have been many challenges during my pursuit of victory in the NHK Student Robot Contest, but I believe that the creations I have developed as a maquinista will support me in the future. I am grateful to all Team Maquinista members who helped me develop over the past year, to the senior students who gave me advice, and to all those who supported me.
Team Maquinista members
Congratulations to Team Maquinista and all the innovators who participated in the 2024 NHK Student Robot Contest.
